Title: Indebted

Author: Aeriel Cross

Genre: Romance/Angst

Pairing: Rhode/ Allen

Author's Note: Hi, this is a rather retarded story, I think. Yeah, I created it, but I am too procrastinating. In my entire fanfic collection this year, this maybe be the most horrible one. However, well…reviews appreciated. This is probably what stress does to my brain.

Dislcaimer: I do not own D.Gray Man, because Hoshino Ka does. Haha.

Summary: The last battle, the Heart of the Innocence, will she be able to watch Allen die? Rhode/Allen

-"…Do not forget this very day…till the end of your life."-

Everywhere he looked it was chaos – movement, blood, screams. However, in the middle of it all, the Akumas had left a wide circular space for him and the Millennium, Earl, not counting his most trustworthy sidekicks, Tyki Mikk and Rhode Camelot. Staring down at him, they grinned, spectators of the ending battle, predators about to deliver the killing blow.

Allen was exhausted, tired. He was almost at his limit, and they all knew it, that's why they were all taking their time, probably to 'play' with him before killing him, like a cat does to a mouse before eating it. Rhode, sitting on the Earl's shoulder was watching him, eyes thoughtful, and for once she wasn't really smiling, but she still had the superior, arrogant look that Noahs usually have. Not that it matters at the moment. Tyki hovered next to her, looking cool and collected, Tease hovering on his fingertips. The Earl, as usual, was smiling maniacally, his top hat slightly askew, sitting on a level one Akuma. Allen, on the other hand was kneeling on the ground in the worst position that anyone would want to be in a battle, glaring up at the trio in the air, his left arm bleeding in its normal form.

'Give us the Innocence, boy, and we'll promise you it'll be quick,' the Earl grinned.

'No,' Allen said resolutely, clutching his left arm instinctively. Somehow, when he had found the Innocence's Heart, it had fused into his left arm – but till now, he was only able to activate his own Innocence, not the Heart, and that made him feel extremely frustrated, since the whole outcome of the battle was totally dependent on whether or not he was able to invocate it. 'Never.'

'Foolish boy, we're giving you an offer, yet you turn it down.'

'It's natural, seeing that it's his exorcist pride holding him back,' Tyki tipped his top hat to Allen, a cruel smile playing on his lips. 'Him being a, eh…most respectable exorcist.' He gave Allen a mocking bow, eyes jeering.

'Enough idle talk – I'll finish you off here and now!!' Allen yelled. 'Innocence, activate!!'

With a twisted ankle, there wasn't much Allen could do, his speed and reflex hampered by it, and thus he shifted his arm to its gun form. With a loud cry, he started firing off raw power at the Noahs and the Akumas, the Akumas exploding upon contact, screaming. Obviously, he was shooting absolutely off-target, since the Noahs dodged him easily.

'Now, now, let's not be rash, shall we?' Tyki asked mildly as something slashed through the air to slice through his side and a white-hot pain lanced through Allen. Gasping in pain, his attacks immediately ceased as he dropped his arm, holding his left side, feeling something warm and wet trickling through his fingers. Looking up, he saw that Tyki and the two had reformed again, with still countless Akumas massing behind.

'Well, boy, we're negotiating for one last time with you – do you accept or reject?' The Earl cackled.

'There's nothing between you and me that we can negotiate about,' Allen spat bitterly.

'So?' Tyki seemed to be amused.

'Negotiation broken,' the Earl declared gleefully, as the mass of Akumas behind roared their approval. 'Eliminate him! KILL HIM!!' The Earl's last words came out as a shout, but it was lost without the delighted, gleeful roars of the Akumas as they surged forwards as one, bullets and raw energy slamming into the ground around him, tearing up the soil, the earth shuddering, noise deafening – and there was nothing Allen could do other than to defend himself.

'Aargh…damn it!!' Allen cursed as he felt his defenses waver beneath the raging attacks. Feeling something coming at him from behind, he turned to swipe it away – an umbrella. No, Rero. Too late he realized it was a trap. A large streak of raw energy was coming his way and he could feel the sheer heat coming off from it even from at least fifty metres away, destroying everything in its path without a trace. From the corner of his eye he could see the Earl still grinning, glad that his simply trick had fooled him to his death, throwing Rero at him to distract him, eager, to watch him die. And die he would. Allen could only kneel there and stare, frozen in place by shock and fear, not even able to lift his arm to protect himself as his death approached, time slowing down to a stand-still…

'Who said you could die here, Allen-kun?'

On the last second of impact, someone suddenly materialized in front of him, taking the blow in full force for him, blocking it for him as intense heat and strong wind blasted out and whipped around them. Blinking, recovering from the initial shock, Allen looked up at his 'savior'.

'Rhode!!' he cried in alarm.

The young Noah's hair was whipped about her face, her customary smile still on her face, but she was slowly disintegrating before the raw energy.

'Rhode-sama!!' Rero shouted, trying in vain to wriggle out of Tyki's grip.

'Rhode…why?' Allen fought against the turbulent winds. 'Aren't you my…enemy?'

Rhode turned to regard him. 'I said that you were mine, Allen, didn't i? Mine, and no one else's.'

Allen's eyes widened in disbelief as his last memory with Rhode came floating back – it was a mission with Lavi, which brought them to Ireland.

-flashback-

'You did this, Rhode?!' Allen shouted angrily as Lavi tried his best to restrain him. All around them in the town square where they met Rhode sitting on the staute-in-the-fountain's head, the ground beneath her was full of bodies, a puddle of crimson from the blood of the massacred, and the whole placed reeked of death. Laughing. Lavi had immediately turned and vomited on the ground, and Allen was rooted to the spot, as Rhode giggled and went up to him, smiling, smearing his face with the blood of the dead as she traced lines on his face, his neck. He fell to the ground, unable to stand the nightmare, the horror-

'Yes, I did. Are you angry with me, Allen-kun?' Rhode smirked. 'Oh, look.'

A lone child, not more than six years old still clutching his teddy bear was standing behind a house, shaking, tears running down the side of his face, shaken by the sight before him.

'…Mama…Papa…' he cried, then looked up tearfully at Rhode as she slowly walked up to him.

'No, Rhode!!' Allen tried to shoot her, but Lavi stopped him.

'No, Allen!! You can't get a clear shot from here!' Lavi cried, holding on to Allen desperately.

'But I can't watch him die!' Allen broke free from Lavi and raced over towards Rhode.

'May this scream haunt your dreams for your life…' Rhode smirked, and plunged her hand into the boy's chest, blood spurting out everywhere, onto Rhode's dress, onto Allen, and the scream, long, loud and fearful. Allen turned on Rhode, but Rhode had already disappeared.

'You're mine, Allen. Forever.' She laughed, as her voice faded away.

Lavi shook his head over the boy's corpse. 'It's too late.' Allen gritted his teeth as silent tears fell. All that was left was the teddy bear, not stained red with the boy's life.

They managed to retrieve the Innocence, but he could never forget that incident.

-end flashback-

'Don't get me wrong, Allen-kun. When I say you are mine, you are mine to play with…' Rhode's voice was distinctly fainter and the light around her intensified, as if sensing her end.

'And only mine to kill. Don't forget me, don't forget today. Don't forget that you are indebted to me for life, Allen.' Saying that, she reached up and kissed him. Then there was a bright flash of light.

And she was gone.

Allen felt something in him snap, before the world turned black.

When he came to, he was lying on a hospital bed, surrounded by Leenali, Lavi, Kanda and Komui. It's all over, they told him. You killed the Millennium Earl. It would seem that he had activated the Heart when Rhode died. Somehow the Innocence acted on its own and killed the Earl and his followers. Lavi grinned and said it was time they went for a vacation, and Komui branished his electrical drill. As chaos broke out in the room, Kanda scoffed and left.

That night, no one saw him return to the battlefield and lay a snow white rose on the ground, or saw him drop the cross necklace that Rhode always wore around her neck. Even if they did, they would think that he was mourning the dead, but Allen Walker knew who he was mourning for. In the instant Rhode kissed him, he understood why she had saved his life.

She had loved him.

'Goodbye, Rhode Camelot,' Allen whispered. 'Maybe we'll meet again someday.'

Only for now, in this silent night, he would mourn for her. Because tomorrow, tomorrow when the sun rises, it would all be in the past, forgotten forever, until the day he dies.

'Because, Allen-kun, you are indebted to me forever.'

-End-

A.N: Yeah. Horrible rite? Anyway, reviews and flamers welcomed alike. Thanks for reading!! Soon I'll be putting up a Kanda/Allen story, so please…support me!! XD